


This One Bright Moment

by labellementeuse



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Background Keyleth/Vax, Bittersweet, I can't believe we're alive let's bang, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-10 16:40:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8924452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/labellementeuse/pseuds/labellementeuse
Summary: Gilmore's new to post-battle recovery, and Vax isn't good at being by himself.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seimaisin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seimaisin/gifts).



> This story contains spoilers for episode 79. 
> 
> Seimaisin, after re-reading your letter just after the last episode I couldn't get this out of my head! I hope you like the bonus story :) Thanks to K and C for beta-reading, and the Yulecops, always.

After, after they've fought and killed two dragons--and that was not the deal, Gilmore thinks but doesn't say; the deal was one dragon, that's what he was prepared for (not that he was ever really prepared for that, either, not that a _storied_ career as a businessman has prepared him in any way for dragon killing)--anyway, after that, they recoup at Greyskull Keep. It's more or less unharmed. It's filthy, which Gilmore assumes is different to how it was before although with Vox Machina who knows, and some furniture is broken, but the basic structures are sound, unlike the rest of the city.

They limp into the banquet hall, a great gang of them, Vox Machina and their admirers and hangers-on, tired and broken and bruised, and collapse in various poses of disarray. Gilmore squints around, purses his lips, and waves one hand over the table; in a flash it's clean, and he drags himself to a chair, does the same thing, works his way around the table until everyone has somewhere clean to sit. 

"You're a true hero, friend," Jarrett says, collapsing into one of them; a cut on his side is bleeding through the bandages Pike had hastily pressed on him on the battlefield, and he still looks scarred from dragonfire. 

"Not at all, not at all," Gilmore says, half-heartedly. It's not in his nature to turn down a compliment, but today he's seen Jarrett, driven out of his mind with fear, still stand and shoot at the thing that had him so scared, and he finds he doesn't have the stomach for empty words. No doubt his facility will return; he hopes so, anyway. For now, it's enough to ease down into a chair of his own and try to calm the shaking in his hands. 

Pike, with an exclamation, comes over to Jarrett to fix his bandages, and Gilmore turns his attention to the wider hall. Nobody is in good shape; Gilmore feels rough himself, despite having taken a healing potion as they made their way back. Keyleth, Vax, and Vex have all been crying, though Vex has taken some pains to hide it; they're talking together in a corner and Percy joins them, his face streaked with grime and grease from his strange weapons (the mechanical principles of which Percy has never yet explained to Gilmore, though he has just seen their efficacy demonstrated). 

Just then there's a bang in the hall. Everyone jerks; Grog leaps to his feet, but it's only Allura, appearing in a swirl of blue robes and hurrying to Kima, kneeling down beside her chair to take one of her hands. "Dear heart, I was so worried," she says, and Gilmore looks away to give them privacy.

It doesn't help much. Grog's asleep already, Pike tending to Jarrett, but Vex and Percy have broken away and are clinging to each other, Vex's head tucked under Percy's chin, and Vax is holding Keyleth's hand, and they're speaking in low, soft tones. Even Kash and Zahra are sitting together, knees touching, simply being silent with one another. Scanlan is nowhere to be seen; he'd peeled away as they entered the gates, for what reason Gilmore doesn't know. 

It's not the first time Gilmore's ever been alone in a crowd, but that doesn't make it easier to watch Vex and Percy peel away, glancing sheepishly behind them as they make for a bed somewhere, or to see Kima and Allura disappear again in another twirl of Allura's robe. 

Gilmore sighs, and levers himself up, and goes to the hearth to light a fire. There's no wood, naturally; he picks up a couple of the worst-damaged pieces of furniture and breaks them to kindling, efficient, a job he hasn't done since he could afford to pay someone else to do it, then lights the fire with a grunt and a cantrip. Once he's done that he finds he doesn't want to move too far from the fire, and drags a chair over so he can sit by the warmth and stare into the flames. 

He must doze off for a while, because when he's shaken awake the fire is flickering low and the hall is quiet. Vax is leaning over him, hair hanging messy around his face, and something in Gilmore's chest, or maybe his stomach, goes thump. It's not that he's in love with Vax, or was ever in love with Vax--goodness knows Gilmore's smart enough not to let a flirtation go that far--but Vax is giving him that tender, heart-on-his sleeve look he wears so well and so often, and Gilmore is tired, and injured, and by the gods he just fought a dragon; he deserves something nice, and he wants it, and it's cruel of Vax to put himself right where Gilmore can see him. 

He's saying something. 

"Gil," he's saying, still giving Gilmore that look. "Let me get you to bed." 

So Gilmore lets Vax duck under one arm and walk him to a room in a part of Greyskull Keep Gilmore's never visited. It's small, dark, and clearly Vax's room, though more or less nothing remains intact in it but the bed. There's a fire in the hearth, though, and the sheets look clean. 

"Well," Vax says, looking suddenly awkward, and frankly as if he'd like to play his usual game of vanishing into the shadows, "I'll leave you to it." But he doesn't, just stands there, fiddling with a feather that probably came off those ridiculous wings of his, as Gilmore stares at him and wonders if he's going to have to chase him away. 

"Where's our lovely druid of the Air Ashari?" Gilmore says, after it becomes evident Vax isn't going to leave and isn't going to say anything.

Vax sighs. "She's gone back into the city," he says. "To look for survivors, and to try to close up that cavern, see what she can do about the lava flows."

"Surely that can wait a day," Gilmore says, but Vax smiles. 

"You know Kiki," he says, looking fond. "She'll come back when she's too tired to do magic at all, and not before." 

"That does sound like her," Gilmore says, and then, because he's too tired to be delicate about it, he starts to ask Vax to leave, but before he does Vax is standing before him and leaning up to kiss him, and Gilmore is simply not able to stop him. 

It's mild at first, sweet and sleepy and tasting faintly of blood, but then Vax takes a breath and Gilmore does too and suddenly it's hot. Gilmore's blood is rushing, tiredness burning off him and replaced by desire, and he drags Vax closer until he's flush up against Gilmore, holding his face in both hands. 

They kiss for what feels like minutes but probably isn't, and then Gilmore remembers what the hells he's doing and breaks away, panting. 

Vax touches his mouth. "That post-battle adrenaline rush, huh," he says. 

"I haven't really got a lot of experience with that," Gilmore says. He can't seem to stop looking at Vax's open mouth. 

"I do," Vax says, "and let me tell you," but he doesn't finish it, too busy kissing Gilmore again. 

This time it's Vax who breaks away. He's still breathing hard. "I should--"

"Keyleth," Gilmore says, resigned, and Vax nods, and then shakes his head.

"Yes. I mean, no. I mean--"

"Dear boy," Gilmore says, exasperated, "please say what you mean, or get out!" 

Vax's eyes widen, and Gilmore feels instantly guilty; but he shouldn't, he reminds himself. Vax has been very clear about how he feels, and this is a terrible idea, and Gilmore needs to know what in the hells is going on with him. Again. 

Vax bites his lip. "Kiki wouldn't mind that I was here," he says, looking serious. "After a fight--she knows what I'm like," and he laughs, looking a little mischievous and just a little filthy. "We've talked about it. And I don't much want to be alone tonight. Honestly, if you weren't here I would have had to go and bother Vex, and she might kill me for it."

"Very probably." Gilmore had seen the way she was looking at Percy. 

"So it's not Keyleth." He's looking painfully earnest. "But I don't want to hurt you, Gil. As much as I'd like to--well, whatever, with you," and Gilmore can tell he's being sincere from the look Vax is giving him, "I never want to cause you pain."

It's probably a bad idea; even Gilmore knows that. But Vax is right about post-battle adrenaline, and he's standing right there, and dammit, Gilmore fought a fucking dragon today! Two fucking dragons! And everybody survived! He deserves some fun.

He reaches out and takes hold of a convenient strap on Vax's armour. "Why don't you let me worry about my feelings," he says, and pulls Vax towards him. 

Vax comes easily, but pauses before they kiss again, eyes searching Gilmore's face. Gilmore doesn't know what he sees there--Gilmore's desire, his tiredness, his determination to enjoy this for what it is--but Vax's brow clears, and he leans up and into Gilmore. 

The awkwardness of the conversation fades fast, and all that's left is heat, a cousin to what had nearly flayed Gilmore earlier that evening but far more pleasant. He'd never felt pain like that before; this heat is more familiar, but run through with the unfamiliar sensations of a new lover: Vax's armour rubbing him in strange places, a confusingly placed lump that Gilmore supposes must be one of Vax's daggers, Vax's long loose hair getting caught between them and making them both splutter. 

Vax pulls back with a laugh at that, pulling his hair back and twisting it in an attempt to keep it out of the way; Gilmore takes the opportunity to start shrugging out of his robes. They're burnt and bloody and ripped probably beyond repair; he leaves them in a pile on the floor. 

Vax is staring at him; for a sorcerer who's spent most of the last few decades keeping shop, it's flattering. Gilmore strikes a pose to make Vax laugh, and succeeds. 

"This isn't a free show, you know," he says, and Vax gives him a slow smile and begins to take the Raven Queen's armour off. 

It takes him, frankly, far too long to get out of it; Gilmore's always sworn by comfort, and it's clear this armour can't be comfortable, as Vax unbuckles straps and drags bits and pieces off himself, leaving them draped over a chair in a pile of feathers like the skin of a strangely shaped bird. Vax moves quickly, but not so quickly, unsurprisingly, that he can't make a show of it, and by the time all that pale half-elf skin is revealed Gilmore is remarkably aroused, sitting on the bed and stroking himself to encourage Vax to blush.

"What do you think?" Vax says, standing there, fully naked, and cocking one hip.

"I think you should get over here," Gilmore says, and, pleasingly, Vax does what he's told. 

They kiss again, and it's lovely just to touch and be touched by Vax, to run a hand over his side and squeeze that delectably squeezable ass, to feel the blood pumping in their veins and remind each other that they're alive. But Gilmore's hard, and he wants it, and he can feel Vax wanting it too, so he gets one foot on the bed and uses the leverage to flip Vax onto his back. 

He can feel, halfway through the motion, that Vax is letting him do it, but that's all right; Gilmore's pride isn't damaged, not when he can straddle Vax's thigh and wrap one hand around his cock and see Vax go red and writhe so pleasingly beneath him. 

"Now," he says, breathless, "what shall I do with you?"

Vax bites his lip and stares up at him; Gilmore can see how much he wants to spread his legs, but as nice as that sounds, Gilmore's not sure it's really a good idea, given the fact that he has no idea where to find the necessary slick in Greyskull Keep and isn't quite sure he has the energy to fuck Vax for more than about thirty seconds anyway. No, better to keep it simple, an idea he expresses to Vax.

"I like everything," Vax says, and he sounds sincere; Gilmore believes him, rewards him by twisting the hand that's still working his cock. "I can--oh," breaking off to gasp, "finish me like this and I'll suck--", but Gilmore doesn't let him finish his sentence; three decades of being a sorcerer might not give him much in the way of dexterity when it comes to leaping out of the way of a blast of dragonfire, but by the gods Gilmore's hands are good at delicate work and he knows his way around a man's body. 

Vax is easy, too, which Gilmore could have guessed. He's responsive, eager, as willing in bed as he is out of it, and he gives it up quickly, spilling into Gilmore's hand with a strangled cry of "Shaun!" 

Gilmore strokes him through it, then rolls off him, leaning down to kiss him; Vax's post-orgasm kisses are ardent, clingy, and soft at first, but as his breathing and heart rate even out his kisses get dirtier again, and soon Vax is pulling back and taking his turn to shove Gilmore over. 

"May I?" he says, polite and restrained, but with a dirty sparkle in his eye.

It's simply an incredible view, Gilmore thinks, to see Vax'ildan lying between his legs, rumpled and pink from orgasm, sweat sticking his hair to his scalp, smiling up at him and stroking his dick. He's faintly impressed that he manages to say, with an airy wave, "Be my guest," but speech is out the window when Vax gives him a wink and goes down. 

Vax looking up at him, lips wrapped around Gilmore's dick, is a pretty good view, too, and although Gilmore can tell it isn't the first time Vax has done this, it doesn't require any special tricks before Gilmore, too, is bucking up and coming into Vax's mouth. 

Vax keeps sucking Gilmore through it, nearly to the point of pain, and swallows, almost prim, before wriggling his way up Gilmore's body. 

"Come here," Gilmore says, and kisses him, thorough, firm, indulging himself in the feel of Vax in his arms, lithe and warm and eager.

They drag the covers up after a while; Vax gets out of bed to blow out the candles and put a log on the fire, then crawls back in, presses right up against Gilmore, and apparently falls straight asleep. 

It's been a long day; Gilmore can feel sleep tugging at him, but he stays awake long enough to look at Vax in the flickering light. He looks peaceful and happy as a sleeper; Gilmore would have picked him as someone to have bad dreams, but perhaps tonight is a night without them. 

Sometime in the night, Gilmore wakes, he doesn't know why. There's a figure in the room, standing between him and the fire; he tenses up for a second, but relaxes when he sees the silhouette of Keyleth's familiar headdress. 

"Sorry, sorry," she says, sounding as agonisingly embarrassed as it's possible for someone to sound in a whisper. "I just got back, sorry, and wanted to see he was all right. I didn't mean to wake you. I'll go," and she starts to leave the room. 

Gilmore doesn't know what makes him do it; maybe it's tiredness, maybe it's that Keyleth's embarrassment is clearly just from waking him, and free of anger or jealousy, but he says, "Wait," and she does, turning, probably giving him that confused hopeful look she has, if he could only see it in the darkness. "Just stay," he says. "Plenty of room."

She's quiet for a second, then "Oh! Okay," she says, and she does, climbing into bed on the opposite side. Vax murmurs something, and Keyleth and Gilmore both freeze, but he falls still again after turning over, flinging a hand out towards Keyleth. She takes it, threading their fingers together, and says, "Well, good night."

"Good night," says Gilmore, inexplicably happy, and falls asleep.


End file.
